When I Get Older makes for miserable viewing, but it’s important we watch

When I Get Older sees Lesley Joseph,
John Simpson,
Tony Robinson and
Gloria Hunniford move in with elderly people suffering from various ailments and indignities. Cheery it is not, but don’t let that put you off…

John Simpson poses with Peggy Booth, an isolated lady who lives in rural Sussex (Picture: BBC)

There will no doubt be a fair number of people who, having seen its promotional garb, will steer clear of the two-part miniseries When I Get Older, on the basis that it looks like it is going to make for miserable viewing.

There may even be many who tune in for the first few minutes and then decide to switch off because it’s all going to be too depressing.

Well, it is depressing, to be perfectly honest. However, it is also very important. Old age, it would appear, offers loneliness, ill-health and general misery for those who get it to it and the message here is that we need to care about that.

So, off goes Lesley Joseph to spend time with Pat and Malcolm, the latter of whom has been rendered bed-ridden and unable to care for himself after a stroke.

In equally affecting stories, Tony Robinson moves in with a widower apparently unable to move on from his wife of 68 years, while Gloria Hunniford is stunned by her new housemate’s meagre daily living allowance.

Elsewhere, John Simpson finds himself co-habiting with Peggy, a cantankerous lady who is by turns spirited and lethargic and who has a penchant for watching wrestling on television – something that apparently inspires sleepiness in John.

He is quick to identify what her problems are, but is less confident about his ability to find a resolution to them.

In fact, this is the issue facing all our stars on When I Get Older tonight: though they all seem to enter the process thinking they could offer the elderly folk something, they soon realise that in fact they could be the ones to learn something.

There’s no use in denying it: When I Get Older is so emotionally gruelling you may feel you’ve aged several years just watching it.

However, this is a moving and compelling documentary that is better watched than avoided, even if it does make for uncomfortable viewing at times.